Christmas on the Gekko
by Cyclone1993
Summary: Talho and Holland celebrate Christmas on board the Gekko after the Second Summer of Love with their son. Written for Tumblr's Eureka Seven Secret Santa


December 25;

I had forgotten how crazy things are at this time of year. The stores are flooded with people, and the popular items are gone in a flash. I guess it is to be expected especially now that I have to be one of the people in the teeming crowd fighting over said popular items. This is how life is supposed to be when you are a father I guess.

My plan was initially quite simple, just take the 606 out to the nearest city, and sneak over to the toy store without letting him see me. My escape went off without a hitch, however the shopping part proved to be a bit more difficult than I had expected.

The toy he wanted the most was a model of Terminus 303, apparently, that was the toy almost everyone wanted. Even though I used to pilot the LFO, finding the model version proved to be quite an arduous task. I went to at least three stores in the city, and did my best to fight the crowd. I used to serve in the SOF, and I still was not prepared to go to war with my fellow shoppers. After being rejected for the third time, I decided to take the 606 to a village a few miles away and try my luck again.

This time I was lucky, and I managed to get the last model they had. Kid better be happy with this! As I turned to leave the store the old man behind the counter who had been furiously staring at me finally found his voice.

"Aren't you Holland Novak?"

"Yeah, I suppose I am." I looked down at my feet, I had always been used to people knowing my name due to my lifting career, but ever since the Second Summer of Love, I became famous for another reason.

The old man continued to gape as I slowly ducked out of the store, and got into the 606 and returned to the Gekko.

When I landed in the hangar, I noticed Talho standing with her arms crossed, and a sour expression on her face. I decided to wait in the cockpit for a little while in hopes that she would get bored and leave. But knowing my wife that was never going to be possible. Finally manning up my courage I decided to leave the LFO.

The moment I opened the hatch, Talho started talking rather loudly, and quickly.

"Do you have any idea how long you were gone?!" She shouted with fire in her eyes.

"I had…some trouble finding it…" I trailed off.

"This is EXACTLY why I didn't want you to wait until the last minute!"

"Well I got it at least didn't I?!" I was barely able to keep a lid on my anger.

Talho opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped the moment she saw him enter the hanger.

The little boy was almost 8 years old, and he had certainly grown over the last few years following the Second Summer of Love. His name is Charlie Novak, and he is my son. He's already shown that he is beginning to develop his own sort of roguish charm, which I would like to say is from me. While his eyes can catch fire exactly like his mother's. However, he is able to contain his emotions even at such a young age much better than either me, or his mother, which is something that is definitely all him.

He crept in rather timidly at first, to be expected I suppose, we were arguing rather loudly.

"Is everything okay? I heard you guys fighting."

Talho was quick to change her attitude. "We weren't fighting, mommy and daddy were simply having an in-depth discussion about something you wouldn't understand yet."

"Yeah about how I'm an idiot." I mumbled under my breath which caused Talho to shoot a glare like daggers at me.

"How about you and I go check on Ken-go?" Talho said with smiles all around as she took Charlie's hand and walked up the stairs, and gradually left the hangar.

I had managed to hide the model whenever he first walked in on us, although hiding it might be a bit of an understatement. I had casually put the package behind my back and tried to turn myself away from him. As far as I knew, it worked.

Luckily Talho had bought me sometime to try and wrap it without being chased around by Charlie's curiosity. I went to our bedroom as quickly and quietly as possible.

When I got to the bedroom, I gingerly placed the model on the bed. It wouldn't be good if the toy which I had spent so much time trying to find would break before he even got to open it. I opened up the closet doors and scrounged around for a bit until my hand brushed against something that felt like paper.

I pulled out the Skyfish printed wrapping paper and held it up to the light. How long had we had this? It had to be a few years at least. It has been used for so many different presents, I'm surprised we still had this much left on the roll. Either that or Talho kept buying the exact same kind of wrapping paper, although when the major alternative is a print featuring the moon, I'd much prefer the skyfish. They really did have to show if off didn't they? I sighed and lowered my head.

Immediately thereafter I grabbed the paper and set off to try and wrap his present. Unfortunately my wrapping skills are not as good as I would like them to be, so his package ended up looking like a spiky fruit as opposed to the square box I had purchased.

After wrapping his present, I reached under the bed and pulled out the other present I had bought this year. It was a special gift for Talho. I pulled it out, and opened the box to confirm that she hadn't already opened it and taken it. I knew how curious she could be. I confirmed that it was still there, and proceeded to look at it, letting the light hit its silver and reflect onto the wall. I'm sure she'll love it.

After wrapping the gifts the three of us decided to have a Christmas dinner. Although whether it could be called a dinner was certainly questionable, since it was all stuff that could be microwaved. Ken-go told us that he wanted to visit his family and left the Gekko for the night. I wasn't even sure if he had any remaining family, but I'm glad he has someone to spend Christmas with.

When we were done eating, we threw everything away and returned to the main foyer of the Gekko. We had a small Christmas tree set up in the corner of the room, which was fully decked out with not only traditional Christmas ornaments, but also with popular name brand items of the hottest lifting gear. Although Charlie loved the idea of lifting, I decided it would probably be best to wait until he turns 8 at least before I try and teach him the ropes, well the best I can with my leg how it is.

As cheesy as it sounds, I always find relief around a Christmas tree. I wasn't really able to have one when I was a child due to the actions Dewey took. Thinking of all the Christmas's we could have shared made my heart seize up a bit. Sure he was a dangerous psychopath, but he was still my brother. When I'm with my family around the tree I feel separated from the world. It's like it's just the three of us, and no problems or pain can enter into the circle. Of course Talho and I were arguing earlier, I was hoping desperately that I could make her forget about the argument, and also make her happy at the same time with my gift for her. I clenched my hand around the small box.

Charlie was moving around like a Trapar storm checking each gift under the tree furiously. I sat down on the couch, and opened a beer that I had grabbed from the refrigerator. Talho was watching Charlie's excitement with a warm smile on her face. She had no idea I was watching her, she probably would have been mad if she knew, but she looked totally at peace as well, and I knew I wasn't the only one who felt warm around the Christmas tree.

It had become our tradition to let Charlie open his gifts first, and then letting him go to bed and opening our gifts to each other after he was fast asleep. That way he could be excited and fawn over his toys, and then Talho and I would have a chance to be alone for a while. Ever since Charlie's birth, the amount of time we had to spend together alone had gotten less and less.

"Can I open my present now Dad?" Charlie who was usually so cool under pressure interrupted my thoughts with his excited and quick speech.

At first I was a bit confused after being pulled out of my thoughts so violently, but I was able to shake my head, and focus more on the now.

"Of course you can, do you think we were just going to skip presents this year?" I allowed a bit of sharpness to enter my words, not because I was angry, but simply because I enjoyed messing with him.

He didn't even give me a chance to say anything else, he was quickly ripping through the Hodge podge of paper that surrounded his gift. Within just a few second he let out a sound that sounded a bit like a mixture of a hoop, and a yell, and he jumped up suddenly.

"It's the Terminus 303 model I wanted! Now I can be just like Daddy!" He quickly ripped into the package and looked at all of the parts. I knew that I would have to help him assemble it later, but for now just seeing him this happy, brought a small smile to my face. Even more so knowing that the reason he wanted the 303 was so that he could feel closer to me, his father.

Now it was Talho's turn to look at me, gone were the harsh eyes with which she looked at me earlier, these eyes were filled with a look of love and pride. She was proud of what I had done, and even after all these years she still loved someone as messed up as me.

"Hey Dad?" Charlie had put the model kit down, and was now looking up at me.

"Yes?" I asked while raising one eyebrow slightly.

"I know you said that you would tell me someday, and I know it is random, but could you tell me why I'm named Charles? I think that would be a great Christmas present as well!"

I glanced at Talho to see what she thought about it.

"He's directly asking you today. I think it's about time. We can at least give him a short version." She stated while looking at me.

"I suppose you're right. Well Charlie, this isn't the full story, the rest will come when you are older still, but I can tell you a bit about your namesake." I began the story. Charlie was sitting on the ground with the model still in his lap. He almost seemed more excited than when he opened his present. He must have really been wondering about this.

"Charles was a man I knew in the old days, he was a brave soul, who valued freedom and love above all else. I am proud to have called him one of my best friends. It was my hope in naming you after him, that you might be able to inherit some of those traits of his. I want you to be free. Someday when you are older, you will be able to leave our Gekko nest, and you will be able to soar through the skies on your own ref board, when that happens, I want you to remember and be thankful for the freedom you have to do so. I don't ever want you to feel like you are being restricted by us, or by anyone. Freedom is something that, in the words of an old friend, you need to not beg for it, but do it yourself, or else you won't get anything. Only when you get it by your hands, can it be something that you can truly experience. By naming you Charles Adrock Novak, I wanted to express those ideas, not only through you, but to you as well."

Charlie was sniffing a bit, and tears were beginning to form at the corner of his eyes. I reached down and hugged him ever so gently.

"Thanks Dad. I will do what it takes to live up to them." He said.

"You don't need to live up to anyone, because if you truly exceed your limits, you're future and potential are limitless." I returned. "Now that you know, it's time to go to bed!" Charlie gave me a quick hug, and hugged Talho as well, before grabbing his model, and running to his room.

Throughout this whole exchange Talho had not said a word. She looked stony face as Charlie was leaving the room, but immediately thereafter, her expression softened.

"You know that was really cheesy right?" She asked in a coy fashion.

"Shut up." I said, as my cheeks began to get rather warm. Talho let out a small chuckle.

"Well now that he is in bed, I supposed it's time to open our gifts." She got on her knees and began to look around underneath the Christmas tree until she found the small box I had attempted to wrap. She pulled it out and set it on her seat. Then she pulled out a much more nicely wrapped box and handed it to me.

"So I suppose we are going to open these at the same time?" I asked.

"Of course! That way we can both be surprised at once!" She retorted after returning to her seat.

She smiled at me, and I took that as a sign that we could open the gifts now. I ripped through the packaging like a wild animal, I could never figure out why some people open the packages so slowly. I had to wait for Talho to catch up before I undid, and fully opened the box.

When I realized that she was finished, I opened the box, and a small ring fell out. At the same time she opened her box, and a similar ring fell into her lap.

We both sat in our seats looking at the object that now laid before us. We had, by a strange twist of fate, bought each other the same gift.

Talho let out a small laugh. "I suppose what they say is true, married couples do end up thinking alike after being married for a few years."

"I wanted to buy you a new ring, I know our previous rings were kind of mashed and damaged, so I thought you could use another." I stated while holding the ring up to the light.

"Well we are kind of mashed and damaged as well aren't we?" I noticed she was looking at her ring in the light as well. "Or at least we were when we first started wearing the rings. Now that we have finally reached stability in our lives, I figured I should buy you a new ring to commemorate the moment, and our marriage. Talho said as she looked deeply into my eyes.

"I couldn't have put it any other way. You deserve better than what you have, so I wanted to provide you something that shows how I feel for you…" I trailed off.

She stood up. "Holland, you don't need a gift to do that. You saw that little boy that was in here a few minutes ago, right? He is a sign of our love. We don't need to buy expensive gifts for each other. I know how you feel, and I feel the same way. I am glad to have been able to become your wife, and I can't tell you how happy I am with my ring, but love is an around the clock thing, it isn't only on Christmas. You have showered me in love every day. I know you try to act tough but you're still the only man I could ever see myself marrying, and if I could do it again, I would definitely make the same choice." She had said all these things with only taking very few breaths, so she was rather winded when she was finished with her speech.

I realized the best thing I could do at the moment was grab her by the arm and pull her into my chest. "I feel the same way. You are the only person who I think could even handle marrying me." She let out a small snort. "So, I'm glad I was able to find you, and that I was brave enough, and smart enough to make that decision myself. We have a nice home in the skies, and a beautiful child, there's nothing more I could ask for. Except for maybe one small thing…" Talho stepped back in surprise, and I got on my knees, and gently took the ring from her hand, and took off the old mashed ring that was on her finger. I put the new ring on her finger and looked up into her eyes. "Will you continue to stay by my side?"

She had begun to cry and the tears fell on to the top of my head, and I felt my own cheeks get a little wet, not from her tears but my own.

"Holland, even though we may argue sometimes, and you have the tendency to frustrate me. I will always, always, always be by your side. Even when no one else is, you can always count on me to be there for you. You've given me a beautiful child, and made me the happiest woman I know, there's not a single thing I would change about you." She leaned forward and our lips met in a warm embrace of their own.

The kiss lasted for only a few seconds whenever I heard the pitter patter of small feet, and Charlie walked into the room. We quickly broke apart, and turned towards Charlie.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I can't sleep, can you come and tell me a story?" Charlie said questioningly.

"Sure, what kind of story would you like to hear?"

"Can you tell me the one about the boy, and the teal haired girl, and their summer of love?" He said while raising his eyes to meet mine.

"Always, Charlie, Always. Go ahead and go to your room, I will be there in a minute." Charlie ran off and I heard a door slam somewhere in the hallway.

I looked at Talho and said, "Whoever said being a family was easy?

"No one said it was easy, but it is truly the best Christmas gift of all."

I smiled, turned and looked at her, and then walked briskly down the hallway.


End file.
